(3)
-Back in the desert.-
Shirou took a look this rather cylindrical cabin where they set up their final checkpoint. The original plan was to set up two separate tents one for Saber and Rin and the other, for Professor Elongate and himself, but since the recent sandstorm leveled the other tent to tatters, they've all been sleeping in this small, porous cabin.
Even that wouldn't have been possible if Rin hadn't used her spell to keep the tent from becoming literally, the first ever manned gliding cabin in the world.
So now, what Shirou saw here inside this cabin were two women and a man each sleeping in their respective sleeping bags. Saber was peacefully drooling and mumbling about hamburgers in her sleep, chuckled Shirou as he took his time to carve this view into his memory.
Shirou took his time to gather the equipments required for today's excavation. Tracing would've been much less tiring and less time consuming than doing all the chores but he didn't care to do that, doing chores is one of his hobbies and he wasn't about to give up on his only means of fun for some unimportant work efficiency boost.
Before he knew it he was moving onto dusting the cabin and eventually to packing up their bag pack. As he kept with the fun housing routine of taking care of the dirty clothing, he found his hand getting a touch of some rock slippery surface, He pulled the thing out from the bag and took some time to rest as he contemplated on the memories this ruby held with it.
This Jewel, a keepsake pendant of Rin that has two existing in this world. The one he held in his hand was also the legacy that The guy called EMIYA left behind.
They once fought desperately to prove themselves; his future decried his Ideal, saying everything he believed in was a mere sham, that everything he fought and wished for are mere child's pry. But there was this one, indisputable truth: What they believed in was beautiful and that beauty itself was worth protecting.
In the end of the fierce battle of ideals, the past triumphed and the future gave in. The boy saw it all, the truths and his final end at the hill of swords. They were similar yet different, but there was one decisive difference between them.
He of the past accepted the truth and embraced the beauty of that ideal, The future denied the truth and fought a lone battle. The Ideal was worth dying for and his crimson self finally left with the question answered on his palms. Their Destiny will differ, how it will turn out it won't matter, in the end it is up to him.
Shaking his thoughts away from his mind, Shirou immediately chastised himself for putting up that dangerous thought. Without his notice he was more and more resembling the crimson bastard day by day. On the surface, nothing much changed, his orange hair, his amber eyes and his honey white skin tone, he even managed to retain his dumbness as much as he had grown in his mentality.
He was an adult, exposed to the harshness of reality. It doesn't take something as unworldly like The World to make someone change. The society itself was a living example. His idealism never waned but his attitude about it sure did, he accepted the truth, but by embracing the truth, the idealism survived, that was definitely, an uncanny irony.
"Dear, is there something wrong?"
Shirou felt a warm, soothing touch on his shoulder. He spun his head behind his back, Rin was heavily yawning, her lips elegantly stretched and her free hand hiding her breath.
It was a surprise to Shirou, Rin has never been good at waking up in the morning and even now, her half open eyes and very messy hair was indicating that she wasn't really ready for some sudden wake up call.
Well, he was about to wake her up anyway but it was still quite a surprise, he needed mental support, and she came just in the nick of time. Her presence itself was a blessing.
Even to this day, his wife was flawlessly guiding Shirou to the right path. They were truly a grand match-up, not to mention the most ironic.
"Nothing... just contemplating on something."
Shiro Smiled clumsily and replied as he would every other day. Rin wrapped her arms around Shirou's neck and gave a kiss on her lover's cheek.
This routine has always been an antidote to Shiro's mental conditions, whatever state Shirou was in, this kiss solved it.
"Dear husband, You shouldn't worry about such things too much; we'll be reaching the gate today. We should be focused on this. After all, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get on with our romantic bedtime routine"
Rin's eyes gleamed with dazzling beauty. There was mischief there in those eyes; one that Shirou never got tired of. And yes, her offer was one that he'd take without hesitation.
After all, He hadn't had a taste of her tender, subtle body for two weeks straight; he thought about including saber in that equation but decided not to. After all, his true love was Rin, and one on one seemed more romantic than a threesome that would often go haywire.
Tomorrow, they'll be getting downright straight and enjoy their body heat. But still work was work and that had to be cleared before they could go on with that. It was getting hotter outside and of course, the faster it is done the better.
Shirou wrapped the excavating equipments in his bag and woke the lazy Arse of Saber and Professor Elongate while Rin readied the language books she stole from the Mage's association (with help from El Melloi II) during her last visit.
The book, which is called (Accumulative Collection of Ancient Language translation work Post-Babel) contains every single collection of language translation that transcends from the era of post-Babylonian time. While it doesn't contain any mystic-codes or universal languages that ancient humans used, it has pretty much the translation of everything, from the Post Babel to Pre-Arturian thaumaturgy, It has helped Rin enormously in solving various history related Stuffs. And this book, without exception, was definitely going to come in handy in today's excavation.
After the packing was complete Shirou and the crew changed their clothes, reverting back to casual clothings. They never forgot to bring the tarnished yellow Nylon jackets and turbans with them, which they would always equip themselves with before they get on with the actual excavation.
The team moved out east from their base camp and walked straight for about half an hour and reached an old ancient tower standing tall about twenty feet from the ground, from then on, Shirou and the team proceeded to the narrow tunnel hidden under the base.
The tunnel's structure wasn't exactly made to fit heavy loads of equipments, only a handful of portable tools such as brushes and scalpels were things that fit in. not surprisingly, the team had to make a straight line just to shove themselves inside this damp, airtight tunnel...even then it was too small to even freely move their legs and hands.
Nonetheless they proceeded with it, The professor in the forefront, Saber following him behind with the tools then Rin with her dictionary, and Shirou on the back, lighting the tunnel with his very own makeshift torches he traced when the prof wasn't looking.
They progressed further down the tunnel before reaching the dead end about quarter of an hour later. Without further a-do, the professor began his excavation duty.